+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. (Amen.)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Amen.)
Maybe we can all relate to one or to both of the sons in the so-called “Parable of the Two Sons” in today’s Gospel Reading. The vineyard-owner father told both sons to go and work in the vineyard that day. The first son dis‑respectfully said that he would not go but afterward changed his mind and went, while the other son respectfully said that he would go but did not go. Whether to our parents, siblings, or spouses; to bus drivers, teachers, or principals; to managers, bosses, or business owners; to police officers, law-makers, or judges, no doubt that we all at times have said both that we would not do something but later have done it and that we would do something but later have not done it. Surely we recognize, as the Jewish leaders did when they answered Jesus’s question, that the first son, the one who changed his mind and went, did the will of his father. Yet, the Parable is not ultimately about doing the will of our Father in Heaven by changing one’s mind and going to work in a vineyard, but the Parable is ultimately about doing the will of our Father in Heaven by “Repenting and believing the messenger with heavenly authority”. As we heard in today’s Gospel Reading, the Jewish leaders, who seemingly interrupted Jesus’s teaching in order to ask Jesus about His authority, themselves would not answer Jesus’s question about John the Baptizer’s authority, so Jesus made clear that those whom the Jewish leaders regarded as notorious sinners were going into the Kingdom of God (confer Luke 19:1-10; 7:36-50), while implicitly the Jewish leaders were not going into the Kingdom of God, because they did not afterwards change their minds and believe John.
What about us? Are we “Repenting and believing the messenger with heavenly authority”? We hardly have to be afraid of the people in the same way that the Jewish leaders were, afraid that the people would stone them for denying that the baptism of John came from heaven (Luke 20:6; confer Acts 5:26). Many around us may not believe that John and Jesus came with heavenly authority, though many others do believe that John and Jesus came with heavenly authority. The Jewish leaders rightly understood the implication that, if they had believed that John and Jesus came with heavenly authority, then the Jewish leaders should have believed them. Do we recognize the authority of God’s Word and those whom He calls and so sends to preach and teach in our midst? If so, do we listen to their message? Do we know enough in order to tell whether or not what the messengers say is true? Do we pick and choose what to believe, not on the basis of whether or not it is true but on the basis of whether or not we like what the messengers say? If we do not sin in those ways, then we sin in countless other ways, for we all are sinful by nature, and so we deserve both death here and now and torment in hell for eternity.
The Jewish leaders may not have wanted to confess their sins, as both John and Jesus called them to do (Luther, AE 75:190), and as Old Testament prophets before them called their people to repent. For example, as God made clear through Ezekiel in today’s Old Testament Reading (Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32), the Lord has no pleasure in the death of anyone, so when we consider and turn away from all the transgressions that we have committed, from our wicked ways, we shall surely live, in the Lord’s way. In today’s Gospel Reading, the first son, who had said that he would not go and work in the vineyard, afterward changed his mind and went, and Jesus said that the Jewish leaders, who saw those whom they regarded as notorious sinners believing John, likewise should have changed their minds and believed him. Through the messengers with heavenly authority whom God calls and so sends to us, God calls and enables us to consider and turn away from our sin and to trust that God forgives us. When we so repent, then God truly forgives us. God forgives our sinful nature and all our actual sin, whatever our actual sin might be. God forgives us for Jesus’s sake.
In today’s Psalm (Psalm 25:1-10; antiphon: v.4), we asked the Lord to teach us His paths, and we sang that all the paths of the Lord are steadfast love (or, “mercy”) and faithfulness. And, in today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus said that John the Baptizer came in the way (or “path”) of righteousness. Those who acknowledged John’s heavenly authority and believed John should have acknowledged Jesus’s heavenly authority and believed Jesus. For, John pointed to Jesus as the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29, 36). John was put to death for his preaching and teaching, and Jesus aligned Himself with John. No surprise then that a few days after Jesus spoke the words of today’s Gospel Reading, the Jewish leaders had Jesus put to death. As we heard St. Paul write in today’s Epistle Reading (Philippians 2:1-18), Jesus was the Son of God in human flesh, Who humbly permitted Himself to be put to death. Jesus died on the cross for us; He died in our place, the death that we deserve; and then He rose from the dead. Like the notorious sinners whom Jesus mentioned in today’s Gospel Reading, when we repent and believe, then we are forgiven, and so we go into the Kingdom of God.
God forgives us who repent and believe and grants us entrance into the Kingdom of God through the messengers whom He calls and so sends with heavenly authority. Like the Old Testament prophets such as Ezekiel, like John the Baptizer, Jesus, and the apostle Paul, pastors today both lead us to repent and believe and forgive us. They do so by reading and preaching God’s law and Gospel and by applying God’s Gospel to individuals with water in Holy Baptism, with touch in Holy Absolution, and with bread that is the Body of Christ given for you and wine that is the Blood of Christ shed for you in the Holy Supper. Especially Christ’s Body and Blood give us who repent and believe the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. The Jewish leaders rejected God’s will for them by rejecting such things as John’s baptism (Luke 7:29-30). Especially in the Baptism that Jesus commands, we know that God gives us a new heart and a new Spirit and so makes us His children.
As children of God, we at least want to do what our Father in Heaven tells us to do. Forgiven and transformed, we at least try to do the good works of God’s Commandments according to our various callings in life. If we call Him “Lord”, we should do what He tells us to do (Luke 6:46). For example, in today’s Epistle Reading, God through St. Paul calls us to do all things without grumbling or disputing, so that we may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom we shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the Word of life. Some may question our heavenly authority, as the Jewish leaders later questioned the apostles’ heavenly authority (Acts 4:7), but we do not let inquiries or any other persecution stop us. We pray that God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). We know that we who do the will of our Father in Heaven are brothers and sisters of Christ (Matthew 12:50) and that ultimately we enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 7:21) and abide forever (1 John 2:17). With daily contrition and faith we live in God’s forgiveness of sins, and so we have His peace and joy already now, as we will have it for eternity.
At the beginning of this sermon, I suggested that we can all relate to one or to both of the sons in the Parable because no doubt at times we have said both that we would not do something but later have done it and that we would do something but later have not done it. May God grant that, more importantly, we all relate to the notorious sinners in today’s Gospel Reading by “Repenting and believing the messenger with heavenly authority” and so by going into the Kingdom of God.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Amen.)
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +
